**Thread reopened, see post 10** I'm moving to the US next year, hopefully permanently - unsurprisingly my gaming rig listed in my sig below won't be making the trip from the UK, in part thanks to the 23kg it weighs. That and the £2k I've sunk into it means it's too risky to move it that far. As I'd like a reasonable gaming PC I'm thinking of building an ITX rig (just in case I have to bring it back). I haven't paid much attention to ITX since the Bitfenix Prodigy was released and it's probably a bigger case than I'd like. It's not going to be built before the end of this year and probably will be well into next year before it takes shape. I may also end up building it in the UK and shipping it over - early quotes suggest £30-40 in shipping which isn't unreasonable for me. (It will be far easier to install anything that requires discs for install at home, would like to avoid shipping some of my 500 odd CD/DVD game collection over). Haven't set a budget yet, though some bits will be reused from previous builds or laptop upgrades which should keep the price down. Realistically need to buy a case, PSU, CPU, mobo & ram to get it running. GPU and extra non-boot storage will be purchased in the US regardless at a later date. Build as follows: OS - I have a spare retail copy of Win7 Pro - the PC it is installed on is now spare and likely to be sold on. It has been upgraded to Win 10 - am I right in thinking that I can reinstall Win 10 directly and legally reuse the licence key? CPU/RAM - Kaby Lake is likely to be out when I end up building but if I was to go today would definitely get the 6600K - overclocking is obviously on the table if viable. Looking at 2x8GB DDR4 as I'm already running 16GB at home Mobo - if building today, this asus mobo would be my preferred option - I take it I need a Z170 chipset to overclock? Prefer Asus boards but looking for something with wifi (& Bluetooth if possible), m.2 preferred, at least 4x sata sockets for future expansion. PSU - Haven't decided but could do with suggestion on how much power I'll need - thinking 450W should cover it, looking for a fully modular supply. Should be OK as I've yet to see one sold that doesn't operate at both 230V/110V so it should work perfectly well in both the US and UK. Case - this is the tricky one. Thinking of this Antec or this Thermaltake Core V1. I've always added Blu Ray drives and a card reader to every build I've done in the past but can't see that I'll need either since Netflix is probably going to be the way ahead. Main consideration is that I'm interested in water cooling for the 1st time and both cases are viable options for CPU AIO water cooling. CPU cooling - Assuming I go with the Core V1, I'm limited to a 140mm tall air cooler. The case does have a 200mm fan in the front but apparently can be swapped out for a 120/140mm rad for water cooling. Future Storage - Ideally looking for something that can take 2x 3.5" drives so I can setup raid1 down the line, though won't be buying the drives in the UK. Would take 2x2.5" if there's a good reason to do so. Boot storage - I've got existing options - I have 2 spare 500GB 2.5" SSDs and a spare 500GB Samsung 850 evo m.2 stick. Does the above mobo take Sata based M.2 drives or do I need a PCIe based version? I'd rather reuse what I have (the stick was bought for my old laptop before I dropped it, the replacement already has 512GB so it's currently spare). GPU - I may reuse my 970 strix though at 285mm it may be too big. I don't need anything more powerful than that (no monitor/TV as yet but intend on sticking with 1080p). Thinking of a 1060 though would be bought in the US. Any suggestions welcome!
Just crunched some numbers based on ordering the same or near to the same with both Scan in the UK and Newegg in the US. With sales tax and at the current exchange rate, the price is pretty much identical, so the only factor would be shipping to the US if I build in the UK. Bits I'd buy in advance if building in the UK as follows vs US pricing. i5 6600K retail with stock cooler - £222/$250 Thermaltake Core V1 - £35/$50 Asus Z170I Pro Gaming - £138/$165 Corsair DDR4 Vengance LPX Black (2400) - £72/$80 Seasonic Evo 620 - £75 Seasonic X Series 650 - $110 It's £541 vs $655 but add sales tax for where I'd ship to brings it in at $710 or £536. So I'd save all of £5 ordering in the US and that's before bank charges for a "non sterling transaction fee" and that the bank would give me a worse rate than the current bank rate of $1.323. The difference would likely cover shipping to the US.
I've built in the Core V1 and it was alright, but definitely budget. Maybe the Fractal Designs Nano S instead? You can then fit a 120mm AIO cooler in the front, as well as a second 120mm fan below it.
I have a v1 and its not expensive not quite sure id call it budget though. Panels feel a bit lose if you dont tighten the thumb screws enough but thats the only thing id probably score it diwn for. I find it small enough but not so small its either awkward to work in or struggles with thermals, i also have a cm 110 which is more awkward to work in. Its a really nice case and quite possibly my favourite case in the house.
Thanks for the advice, I'll see what the price is come December but more than likely that'll be the best choice. Love the look of the N Case but at $180 it's way too much money. Love the idea of SFX power supplies though, even if I get a case that doesn't need one anything to maximise space makes sense. Also gone off the Antec case, might be an easier build but the crazy split of USB sockets on the front (1xUSB3, 1xUSB2), even though the correct headers cables are inside makes it a poor deal Any advice on refurbish parts? Scan are offering the Corsair H90 water cooler for £50 factory refurb, wondering if it's worth the gamble or not. Build as it stands: Case: Thermaltake Core V1 - £34.99 RAM: 2x 8GB Corsair Vengance LPX Black DDR4 (2400) - £75.13 CPU: 6600K OEM - £212.99 Cooler: Corsair H90 refurb - £49.99 Mobo: Asus Z180I Pro Gaming - £137.94 PSU: Silverstone SX500-LG (includes ATX to SFX adapter) - £69.98 OS: Win 7 Pro licence in hand, £0 Storage: probably my M.2 850 Evo, £0 With the free shipping thanks to the forums, £581.03 all in. Looks like Skylake will continue to have full Win7 support for the lifetime of Win7 so should be good to go. Anything I've missed?
1) Have you considered this case, been doing the rounds and is considered a decent and good value itx case: http://cougargaming.com/products/cases/qbx/ Though only one 3.5" drive space, personally I'm opting for an M2 boot drive and then one of the 960GB SSD's that commonly go on sale for programs etc. Everything else is either on my NAS or in the cloud. 2) I got a colleague to purchase from ebay USA a i5-6400T, obviously not as fast but a capable processor in a much smaller thermal envelope. (Does fine in my bedroom gaming rig.) 3) I have purchased a few corsair refurbished AIO's from Scan, no problems on any of them. They all looked pristine. Final thing to consider on the Mobo: I bought an H170i D3, which had the Samsung NVMe 128GB listed as compatible, I already had a 256GB one from another build. I just assumed that it would work but the bios refuses to detect it, drive works fine in my NUC. The compatibility list for the board you are suggesting and my board are the same, and the EVO m2 is listed but only the 250GB version, I wouldnt make the assumption it will just work. I havent tried a bios upgrade as I desperately just needed to get the machine up and just opted to use a 840 Pro I had spare.
Thanks for the feedback. I've got enough info for now and since I'm not expecting this rig to take shape until December at the earliest I don't need any more help at this stage. I'll reopen this thread if I need more to go on closer to build time. -- It's too expensive, that's still $170 and since it retails for $185 that isn't a good deal especially since this build is planned for America - I can easily avoid import charges assuming they're US based. I'd have to have a proper look at the specs but some of the features are either/or which puts me off. Really useful advice, especially on the cooler info - thanks. It's a beautiful looking case but is significantly bigger and I'm suspicious that there's no weight listed on their website - I suspect 10.8 lb rather than the 10 kg as listed on Amazon but compared to the 3.2kg of the thermaltake it's a factor if I end up building in the UK and ship it over. I'm not too concerned regarding my 850 Evo as I've got 2.5" alternatives, but there's 12 versions of the BIOS for the board I'm looking at, the last being 1808 from 2 days ago - and I since Kaby should be on the market by the time I plan on building it should be a non-issue.
Reopening this thread, close to building it but several things have changed. Firstly, UK prices have significantly gone up, in some cases the parts are 1:1 in £:$ so building in the US is clearly better value. It also eliminates the hassle of shipping a completed build across the pond. I'm still using £ for comparisons for simplicity in the decision making for now. Need suggestions of US retailers I can buy parts from. Newegg is the obvious one but any other suggestions would be appreciated. Pretty happy with the parts as previously discussed but need some more suggestions as my requirements have changed: Boot storage. Starting over I've found a good home for both 500GB 2.5" drives (one is for work, the other is now for my Xbox One) and my M.3 drive (extra SSD for my UK gaming rig). M.2 PCI-E is the obvious option, heard mixed things about the Intel 600p but at £165 for 512GB seems like a steal compared to the Samsung 960 evo at £100 more. Suggestions welcome, particularly as to why I may want to consider the Samsung drive. Case - still leaning towards the Thermaltake Core V1 but I'm far more open to something smaller as I'm happy to go with external card reader/optical drives.. Main requirement is 1x3.5" bay as I've found an adapter that will allow me to mount 4x M.2 Sata drives and I don't need extremely fast storage. Also want something that can fit a GTX 1060 CPU cooling - Assuming I go with the Core V1, I'm limited to a 140mm tall air cooler. Swifttech H140-X?
Newegg, B&H, Microcenter, Amazon, Cyberpower, Best Buy. The US is cheaper than the UK with much more variety. What about the Core G3. Very slim and tall instead of boxy. You can stay ATX then.
If LA, I picked up my GTX1080 at Fry's in Burbank as an "open box" for $607 inc 6% tax. The only thing missing was the free game voucher that I wasn't interested in.
Probably SoCal - otherwise Washington State. Not sure I really want to go ATX for this build as I won't need the extra PCIE slots, one for the GPU will do. Am open to mATX options though. Budget is in the region of £600, 800 tops excluding OS. (call it $1K). GPU wise was looking at the mini EVGA model (UK link) as I can't see the point in 4K and it should run everything I need for the next few years - can't see any benefit of high res displays once you get bigger 15" laptop screens.
Oh final heads up, use cash or a card that won't sting you on rate / transaction fee. I've bought a couple of things that way to get home and find while it was still a little cheaper the cc company had eaten some of my savings!
Already taking a look at that but thanks for the reminder. Need 2 further bits of advice - may upsize to mATX (and increase the budget) but: SSDs - Sata based M.2 would be fine as I/O isn't relevant, boot and game loading times are the main factor. However, it's worth the extra if it means that I don't lose a SATA socket on the board (idea was to use PCI-E m.2 for boot and to use SATA sockets for SATA m.2 drives). Any idea as to whether this is the case and if I use PCI-E m.2 would I lose PCI-E lanes on either an itx or matx board? Windows 7 support - I may need it so was thinking of sticking with Skylake. However, the Asus Z270 Kaby boards say that they support Win7, so long an a 6xxx CPU is used - is the opposite also the case, could I pair a Skylake board with a Kaby CPU and keep Win7 support?
The whole 'is not supported' is utter crap. Don't even worry about it. You can run Skylake on XP ... I somehow don't think it's officially supported either. All you will need is a Win 7 ISO with XHCI pre-loaded. I have a download link to mine from legitimate sources, no pirates have touched it and it is my own upload. If you need it, ping me a message. Installing NVMe M.2 drives on Win 7 is a little more difficult, but Google will help you there.
KabyLake does NOT work with Win7. It'll crash at random intervals with no logical conclusion why.. I've seen a few YouTubers try it and all came to the same conclusion. Skylake will work with Win7 fine though. Not sure if the Motherboards affect this or not though.
What's the need you have? Free vmware player / virtuabox and windows 7 running in there if you really really need it?
Thanks for the advice, think I'm all set. Managed to find some useful info on Kaby support: Depends on the mobo/CPU combo. I've been taking a look at the new Asus Z270 range (the G and I versions) - both say they support Win 7/8.1 with a Skylake CPU only. Good enough for me. Gaming for stuff that won't work on Win10 (also have a spare retail licence to hand so may use it for the 32bit version for 16bit app support). Since I've had no success with VMing for gaming support, I'm happier going the native route (really annoys me that Intel don't support VTX-D on their K series CPUs but I doubt it would help that much).
